kräva means "to demand" or "to require," and it sits at the centre of a small, very useful family: the verb kräva, the noun ett krav ("a demand, a requirement"), and above all the -s passive krävs ("is required"), which is one of the most common ways Swedish states what something needs. The verb itself is a textbook Group 2 verb with a stem ending in -v, so it takes the -de past: kräva – krävde – krävt.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum (past) | Supine | Imperative | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| kräva | kräver | krävde | krävt | kräv | Group 2 (-de) |
The stem is kräv-. Group 2 splits into a -de subclass and a -te subclass depending on whether the stem ends in a voiced or voiceless sound; -v is voiced, so kräva takes -de: present kräver, past krävde, supine krävt (the -d- drops before the -t of the supine). The imperative is the bare stem kräv. The agreeing past participle is krävd (en-word), krävt (ett-word), krävda (plural) — used in the passive: de krävda dokumenten ("the required documents").
Jobbet kräver flytande svenska.
The job requires fluent Swedish. kräver — present.
Kunden krävde pengarna tillbaka direkt.
The customer demanded the money back immediately. krävde — past.
Projektet har krävt mer tid än vi trodde.
The project has required more time than we thought. har krävt — perfect.
Use 1: present, past and perfect
The tenses follow the principal parts directly. kräva covers both "demand" (to insist on, often forcefully) and "require" (to need as a condition). The perfect is har krävt, the pluperfect hade krävt. With a direct object it simply means "demand/require something."
De kräver en ursäkt innan de pratar med oss igen.
They're demanding an apology before they'll talk to us again. kräver + object.
Resan krävde noggrann planering.
The trip required careful planning. krävde — past, sense 'require'.
Olyckan har tyvärr krävt flera liv.
The accident has unfortunately claimed several lives. kräva liv = 'claim lives', a fixed collocation.
Use 2: kräva att + clause and kräva någon på
Two grammatical frames matter. kräva att + a clause means "demand that …": De kräver att vi betalar i förskott. And kräva någon på något means "demand something from someone" — note the preposition is på, attached to the person, not "from": kräva någon på pengar ("demand money from someone").
Facket kräver att lönerna höjs.
The union demands that wages be raised. kräva att + clause.
Hyresvärden krävde oss på tre månadshyror.
The landlord demanded three months' rent from us. kräva någon på något — preposition på on the person.
Jag kräver inte att du håller med mig.
I'm not demanding that you agree with me. kräva att in the negative; note inte before the verb in the att-clause word order.
Use 3: the -s passive krävs and the noun ett krav
This is the most frequent way you'll meet the verb. The -s passive krävs means "is required / is needed" — an impersonal statement of what something takes. Det krävs erfarenhet = "Experience is required"; Vad krävs för att …? = "What does it take to …?" The matching noun is ett krav ("a demand, a requirement"); you "set" one with ställa krav ("make demands") or uppfylla ett krav ("meet a requirement").
Det krävs körkort för att hyra bilen.
A driving licence is required to rent the car. krävs — impersonal -s passive.
Vad krävs för att bli läkare i Sverige?
What does it take to become a doctor in Sweden? Vad krävs för att …?
Företaget ställer höga krav på sina leverantörer.
The company sets high demands on its suppliers. The noun ett krav, with ställa krav på.
Common Mistakes
❌ De kravde en förklaring.
Incorrect past — the stem keeps its ä, so the past is krävde, not kravde.
✅ De krävde en förklaring.
They demanded an explanation.
❌ Det har krävde mycket arbete.
Wrong form after har — use the supine krävt, not the past krävde.
✅ Det har krävt mycket arbete.
It has required a lot of work.
❌ Det kräver erfarenhet. (intending the impersonal 'experience is required')
If there's no clear subject, use the impersonal -s passive: Det krävs erfarenhet.
✅ Det krävs erfarenhet.
Experience is required.
❌ Hon krävde pengar från honom.
Calque from English — the idiom is kräva någon på något, with på on the person: Hon krävde honom på pengar.
✅ Hon krävde honom på pengar.
She demanded money from him.
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Start learning Swedish→Related Topics
- Using the Verb ReferenceA2 — How to read the single-verb reference cards and the principal-parts citation system that underpins them. Every Swedish verb is cited as a short chain — infinitive – present – preteritum – supine – (past participle) — because every other form is derivable from those parts. This page decodes one weak verb (tala – talar – talade – talat) and one strong verb (skriva – skriver – skrev – skrivit – skriven), explains the conjugation-group labels (1/2/3/4), and gives a key to everything on a card.
- The Four Conjugation GroupsA2 — Swedish verbs sort into four conjugation classes, identified not by the present tense but by the PAST (preteritum) and supine: Group 1 (talar/talade/talat), Group 2 (ringer/ringde/ringt, köper/köpte/köpt), Group 3 (bor/bodde/bott), and Group 4, the strong verbs (skriver/skrev/skrivit) that change their vowel. Group 1 is so dominant and regular that every new and borrowed verb joins it — so treat it as the default and memorise only the closed list of strong verbs.
- The -s PassiveB1 — The synthetic -s passive adds -s to the verb across all tenses (present läses/öppnas, past lästes/öppnades, supine har lästs/öppnats, infinitive ska läsas). It is the DEFAULT Swedish passive — the form on signs, rules, recipes and instructions (Dörren öppnas automatiskt; Serveras kallt) — far more frequent than English speakers expect.